Daily Archives: September 14, 2012

If you’re looking for some false humility – OMG, UL-M won! – about the Florida Atlantic game here, I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong post. There’s a reason that Georgia is looking at the biggest point spread of the Mark Richt era. Paul Myerberg explains (in a post that’s not about either Georgia or FAU):

Blind squirrels are known to stumble upon a nut every now and again, especially if that nut is, say, Maine’s football team. Or if the blind squirrel is Middle Tennessee State and the nut is Florida Atlantic, which houses the only Sun Belt team more impotent than Rick Stockstill’s Blue Raiders. So what to make of these wins? At face value, dates with Maine and the Owls pushed Boston College and Middle Tennessee State into the win column – that’s the biggest takeaway for both the Eagles and Blue Raiders. But beyond that point, what did these wins prove? That B.C. is not good enough to run with Miami (Fla.) but good enough to beat an F.C.S. opponent? That Stockstill’s gang can beat F.A.U. but not McNeese State?

There you go. McNeese State > FAU.

This is a game to go in, get a big lead, pull your starters (except for Commings and Vasser, who need the game reps) and prepare for Vanderbilt. And before you play your looking-ahead-is-bad card, note that Grantham did just that against Buffalo.

They did it by making adjustments to their traditional scheme in order to defend Missouri’s wide-open spread offense. The Bulldogs trotted out some of those changes in the opener against Buffalo — and it didn’t always look pretty in Georgia’s 45-23 win — but Grantham believes it made a difference when the quality of competition improved against Missouri.

“Really, we’ve actually played this way for two weeks,” Grantham said. “We kind of played a little bit of the stuff we were going to do against these guys last week to get them used to it. I felt like we needed the extra prep and didn’t always match up. But I think in the end it allowed us to play better today.”

Three weeks from now, people are going to care a lot less about whether Georgia covered the spread against the Owls than they will about whether the Dawgs are undefeated in conference play. Trust me on that one.

“We can forgive the fans for being wrong in their opinion of the great Mark Richt,” said Howard Schnellenberger, Richt’s coach at Miami who set up Saturday’s Florida Atlantic game at Georgia before retiring as Owls coach. “He’s a great coach. He’s proved them wrong. He’s now one of the dominant coaches, if not the dominant coach in the conference. Fans often rush to judgment.”

Andy Staples finds a mockable moment leading up to tomorrow’s Meteor Game:

For those seeking further proof that the Florida-Tennessee series is in a strange place right now, consider this: The Knoxville Police Department issued stern warnings this week to any Tennessee fans considering storming the field at Neyland Stadium should the Volunteers beat Florida Saturday.

Storming the field? For beating a team that went 7-6 last year? The very idea seems offensive to anyone who remembers when this was the most important game in the SEC every year because these were the two best teams in the conference.

If there’s something that’s taken a little edge off of their meeting tomorrow, it’s not the idea that the two are playing for third place in the SEC East. It’s how colorless the two head coaches are, which shouldn’t be a surprise, given that they’re offshoots from the Saban Tree.

So instead of getting arrogant Fulmer-baiting from Spurrier, we’re treated to the insightful, ass-covering wisdom of Will Muschamp.

“It’s not add water, instant player,” Muschamp said. “I know we all think that because Rivals put 48 stars by their name, they’re supposed to just be an outstanding football player the moment they walk on campus. It’s not add water, instant player. It’s not. It takes a process to become a good player.”

And from his cohort? More of the same: “If we don’t win,” Dooley said, “the sky isn’t going to fall.” Even the Laner was more fun than that.

To bring everyone up to speed, Hoppy was able to find the 100th sports fan from Montana last weekend. His work is in post-production, so to speak, and we should have a finished product on display soon.

Of the leading contenders in the list (Alabama, USC, Oklahoma, Florida St, Georgia), Florida St has by far the best path to the MNC. Both Alabama and Georgia would significantly improve their chances in Florida St’s schedule. Georgia would also be significantly better off in USC’s or Oklahoma’s schedule (or even Michigan St’s schedule). So, the argument that Georgia is ranked high because they have a relatively nice path this season is a bunch of bunk (even if they do have a pretty nice schedule compared to the rest of the SEC).

On the flip side, pity poor Ole Miss. In any event, playing an SEC schedule means something. Any SEC schedule.

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15